Is BlogHer '12 really THIS week? I'll be packing over the next few days and heading up to New York on Wednesday. My husband is joining me on the trip and we'll probably do some touristy things Wednesday and Thursday. I even got him a ticket to BlogHer this year since he helps me out with my blog.
Once the official conference starts on Thursday here is my tentative schedule (of official events and sessions):
Thursday - Night at the Expo
Friday -
6am: BlogHer 5K (don't be too excited, I'll probably be walking it!)
8am: BlogHer Breakfast - I'm sure I'll be hungry after the 5K
9am: Welcome
10:30am: HTML Doesn't Have to Be a Four Letter Word (I only know a few basic codes)
11:15am: Geek Bar - Design Audit
11:45am: Lunch Keynote with Martha Stewart AND #clothbloghers12 Birds of a Feather Lunch organized by @MommaWords
1:15pm: Three-Dimensional Beauty on a 2D Screen
2:45pm: Geek Bar - Google Analytics
4pm: PHC Pampering (Phizer) - Hair Chalking appt at ... [ Read More ]

Are you attending your first (or fifth) blog conference soon? In 2010 I packed my bags and headed off to my first blog conference. I had never met any other bloggers. I didn't really even know a lot of bloggers. I showed up in New York City and just about left in tears after the first hour. Yes, really I did...you can reread my post, What BlogHer Meant to Me, to hear the full story.
That was nearly three years ago and I still get intimidated at blogging conferences. I've been to 2 BlogHer's and 2 Blissdom conferences and I still get butterflies in my tummy at the thought of this trip. Why?
There will be over 4500 women (and a few men) in attendance at this year's BlogHer. That's a LOT of women. Women have been known for our catty attitudes. We've been know to be clique-ish. We've been known to be rude and well...just plain mean! So how do avoid all the nasty stuff and not go home crying on the first day?
Blog Conference Survival Tips
Follow the #blogher12, ... [ Read More ]

Yes, it's been almost 2 weeks since BlogHer but I'm still pretending like my virtual friends and I are still hanging out, laughing, and having a fabulous time in San Diego. Here are a few more pictures I found on my iPhone today.
... [ Read More ]

One of the parties I was invited to at BlogHer '11 was hosted by Swagbucks. I joined Swagbucks about a month ago but I have to admit I just didn't get it. Then while doing some research for a work project I realized that Swagbucks is one of the biggest referring sites for one of the businesses I'm working for. I decided to go to the party because I honestly wanted to learn more about this website and the possibilities it had both personally and professionally.
After I arrived at the party and found my way to the food I sat down and did some people watching. There were several Swagbucks reps walking around chatting with people talking about a secret code and unscrambling letters. Again, I felt just as lost as I was when I first visited Swagbucks online. Another blogger was walking around answering Swagbucks questions and talking about the program so I decided to ask her to explain it to me. This was the first time I had ever met (or heard of) Southern Savers and Ms. Jenny ... [ Read More ]

I’ve had the idea of hosting a special meet-and-greet for months in conjunction with my trip to BlogHer. When I arrived at BlogHer last year I didn't know anyone and I hid in my hotel room tweeting away trying to find someone to have lunch with. I ventured out and made a great friend (thanks Kate for having lunch with me) and the rest of the weekend I was a social butterfly. This year I decided to join forces with some of my blogger friends to help me organize the details of the party. Once we started making our invite list we realized just how large the community is and how hard it would be to limit the invites to only 50 bloggers. There are so many wonderfully talented bloggers and over 3,600 of them attending BlogHer.
We had an agenda of course – since the organizers and I are cloth diapering addicts and advocates we wanted to reach out to other like-minded bloggers. What are other like-minded bloggers like? What do they blog about? We found in our search that like-minded ... [ Read More ]

Last year I was honored to be on the BlogHer Green Team to help advice them on ways to make the conference a little bit more eco-friendly. I hope that our efforts and our ideas are considered again this year during their planning and that maybe they implement a few new green initiatives each year. The official BlogHer sponsors (the one's that help keep our costs down, pay for the food we eat, pay for the speakers we listen to, and provide a lot of the swag we love) dictate a lot of the areas in which raise concern with some of the eco-minded attendees so there are limitations on how far BlogHer can change things. Regardless of what steps BlogHer and the sponsors provide we can each do our own part to help green our own experiences in California.
1. Carpool, take public transportation, or walk! One of the most amazing things about BlogHer is the ability to connect with other bloggers. As it gets closer to the arrival date start tweeting with the #blogher11 tag and look for a ... [ Read More ]

I decided last December that I was going to go to BlogHer 11 in San Diego and quickly purchased my ticket (and one for my best friend who is joining me this year). I didn't actually think to much about obtaining a sponsor at that time. In January I made a last minute decision to attend Blissdom and sent out a plea for sponsors for the coming year. I never did get a sponsor for Blissdom but I went anyways (BEST decision ever)!
To my surprise though I did get one email back from a fellow online friend that I met back in 2009. It was about the time I joined Twitter and met up with the wonderful cloth diapering community that our paths first crossed. I'm not even sure when our first 'meeting' was but I know it involved cloth diapers. At the time this friend of mine was connected with the GADBaby Diapers and had sent me an adorable pink and black side-snapping diaper to review. It was around that same time that she gave birth to one of the hottest companies in the cloth diapering ... [ Read More ]

I'm all sorts of geeky today -
I decided to start posting information on a few other community blogs to gain some additional exposure and hopefully reach some mom's that don't regularly visit us over here at The Eco Chic. Today I found myself on BlogHer.com where I wrote more about My Extended Breastfeeding Journey. Go visit me on BlogHer and leave a comment if you want to share your story with me.
Then last Friday I got an email from the producers of Mom Talk Radio asking if I was available to fill in for a cancellation they had with Maria Bailey during the weekly Mom's Roundtable discussion. I was intrigued so I said YES! After rushing Lil' B off to the pediatricians office early that morning (turned out she got stung and never told me - swelled up all nasty like!) I returned and talked with Maria and MaryBeth Whalen about Halloween. I know it's not a very eco-conversation but I did talk about composting Halloween candy at the very end of our segment. The entire podcast ... [ Read More ]

I've been planning this post for over a month now since my trip to BlogHer in NYC but I'm afraid it's going to take me more than just one post to tell you all about it. While I was in NYC for BlogHer I was invited to an unrelated event sponsored by Scholastic on Saturday morning. I was a little nervous because I didn't know anyone else who was going but I was super excited because it was Scholastic.
See I've been reading to my 7 year old son for over 7 years now - almost EVERY DAY! We read so much that I had to go out this week and buy him a bigger bookshelf. Upon entering Kindergarten he was very comfortable with reading and continues to be a very strong reader - reading at a 3rd-4th grade level (he's only in 2nd grade). I can't help but feel proud of him and his success in reading but what makes me even more proud how much he LOVES to read.
He loves reading so much that tonight as I tucked him in he was in tears because he couldn't find his book light. I always let him ... [ Read More ]

First watch this -
Pretty impressive isn't it! In a world where we live and breath all things plastic it's nice to see products like Kidishes. If you are like me you often cringe when you pull out that plastic bowl that you bought at Wally World to warm up your child's next meal - is it 'really' BPA-free? Are there any other toxins we don't know about yet? How many barrells of oil were used to make this plastic bowl? *Yes - these are all real thoughts that go through my head when I look in my cabinets.
Kidishes have actually been around for ages - back before I was born actually - by a company out of France called Duralex. They've mastered the kid-friendly tempered glass plates and bowls and as the story is told over at Zoe b Organics, Duralex is found in all the schools in France. How did we ever get away from using sustainable, reusable, safe, non-breakable tempered glass?
I was introduced to Zoe b Organics at the Green Blogger Soiree during my BlogHer trip (Who ... [ Read More ]

Meet Calley

Hey y'all! I'm Calley and I'm glad you found my blog. I'm a Tampa mom and influencer. I love to write about my family, local events and happenings, DIY projects, traveling and so much more! I'm also a cloth diaper educator and social media manager. Pass the coffee please. Looking for @TheEcoChic? This is still me, just a new name!read more...

Hey y'all! I'm Calley and I'm glad you found my blog. I'm a Tampa mom and influencer. I love to write about my family, local events and happenings, DIY projects, traveling and so much more! I'm also a cloth diaper educator and social media manager. Pass the coffee please. Looking for @TheEcoChic? This is still me, just a new name. Pass the coffee please.